1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an off-line programming system which teaches a program of a robot which is provided with a tool which works a workpiece which is arranged in a work space, that is, a worked part.
2. Description of the Related Art
When using a tool which is provided at a robot to work a workpiece, the operation of the robot has to be taught in advance. Japanese Patent Publication No. 5-289722A discloses to teach movement start points and movement end points of a tool for working a workpiece at a surface of a workpiece to be painted so as to prepare a working path for the tool.
Further, Japanese Patent No. 3500739 discloses to judge the part of a workpiece to be worked from the number of designated teaching points so as to prepare a working path. Furthermore, Japanese Patent No. 3903617 discloses to divide a work region of a robot by parallel lines and calculate operating points of a reciprocating operation of the robot as developed reciprocating data. Furthermore, Japanese Patent No. 4246324 discloses to use the position/posture of a tool which has been stored at the time of actual work as the basis for a worker to prepare operation patterns for utilization in the work of teaching the robot.
However, to completely work the entire surface of a workpiece in the conventional art, it is necessary to find the tool position or position/posture at an extremely large number of locations on the workpiece. Furthermore, if the surface of the workpiece to be worked includes a curved surface part, it is difficult to prepare the tool working path so as to suitable for the surface of the workpiece. For this reason, a large number of steps were required for preparing such a working path.
The present invention was made in consideration of such a situation and has as its object to provide an off-line programming system which enables the number of steps for finding the position or position/posture of a tool which works a workpiece to be greatly reduced.